By Jamal Maghiouzi, Cultural Field Coordinator I left my village of Ait Kassi Ouali at 6:30 in the morning to travel the 90 kilometers to Ouarzazate in a grand taxi before taking another for about five hours to the outskirts of Taroudant. I traveled from Taroudant to Ait Iazza, and then finally from Ait Iaazza

By: Jennan Al-Hamdouni, Director of Engagement and Advocacy, REMA U.S. Consul General Lawrence Randolph and President of the Jewish Community in the Marrakech-Safi region Jacky Kadoch at the first High Atlas Foundation (HAF) House of Life interfaith nursery in Akrich. November 2021. Photo: HAF What brings people together in celebration of heritage, cultural identity, and

By Fatima Zahra Laaribi Program Manager, Women’s Empowerment HAF and Association Bayti meet with 13 local CSOs who are preserving local heritage in Essaouira. Many treasures are hidden within the coastal Mogador city, today known as Essaouira, which is characterized by its rich, multidimensional culture. This small city is a melting pot of Amazighen, Arab,

By Yossef Ben-Meir, Ph.D. President, High Atlas Foundation I had the opportunity, for which I am grateful, to visit together with Mr. David Greene, the U.S. Chargé d’Affaires, the Jewish and Christian cemeteries in the incredible city of Essaouira. The day prior, we had launched with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) its new

French version Arabic version Essaouira – U.S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires David Greene joined H.E. André Azoulay, Senior Advisor to H.M. King Mohamed VI, at Bayt Dakira in the Mellah of Essaouira to launch a three-year USAID program aimed at recording and sharing hundreds of stories that capture the Kingdom’s rich multicultural history. This $3 million

By Aira Matin HAF-UVA Intern People entering the shrine of Sidi Yahya Ben Younes, or John the Baptist, in Oujda Photo by: Iznassen/Wikicommons Link: https://theculturetrip.com/africa/morocco/articles/morocco-home-sacred-christian-tomb/ Religious spaces offer a location of home, identity, and belonging. They hold particular importance for the Christian community in Morocco, where Islam is the overwhelming religion. Christians have often been

By Jennan Al-Hamdouni I first arrived in Morocco in December 2011 to serve in the US Peace Corps as a development volunteer. I lived in Agourai, a small town in the Middle Atlas Mountains until 2015, when I returned to the States to complete a master’s in humanitarian aid and conflict resolution. The nature of

Creating and Codifying the Right to be Remembered, Global Research. • Arabic: Sot Al iraq, 21 September 2021. Yossef Ben-Meir, Emily Oksen, and Kristin O’Donoghue The Jewish cemetery in Tisfen – and its memory is fading – located in the Taroudant province of Morocco (High Atlas Foundation, 2021) It is human nature to wish to be remembered. We

Moroccan Decentralization: Towards Community Development and National Solidarity, Sais review sais Johns Hopkins. Dr. Yossef Ben-Meir first introduced us to development and decentralization in Morocco in 2018. In this new piece, he re-examines and updates Morocco’s progress towards sustainable development. Background on Moroccan Decentralization Decentralization in the Kingdom of Morocco—aiming to make unprecedented strides for people’s development

– The Significance of the New Signage at the Ouarzazate Tree Nursery in Morocco, The Policy Times. By Yossef Ben-Meir Marrakech Twenty-seven years ago, I lived in a village called Amsouzerte in the Tifnoute Valley, the south side of the High Atlas Mountains, closeby to the burial location of the Moroccan-Hebrew saint David-Ou-Mouche. The Tifnoute

Promote sustainable development through multilingualism – opinion, The Jerusalem Post. • Arabic: Nabd, 14 August 2021. • French: Liberte-Algerie, 25 August 2021. by Yossef Ben-Meir and Ellen Hernandez Human languages family tree, 2014. When community meetings are held to determine priority development projects in villages, in neighborhoods, in schools, in agricultural fields—wherever they may take place—we want

The Importance of Plants in Religious Art, San Diego Jewish World. By Prof. Ellen Hernandez MARRAKECH, Morocco — What is the message conveyed by the representation of plants in religious text? What do the images that these references bring to our minds tell us about a people and a society? These are questions posed by